Christian Convictions: Writing on Sundays

I don’t write on Sundays. I’m not saying no one should write on Sundays, but for me – I can’t do it. Well, I could very easily, and that is why I don’t. I get so obsessed with getting this done and getting that done. I mean, seriously, a dozen novels in my mind… where is one to get the time?

And that’s the thing. For me, writing will take up any time I allow it. It is my job. And Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (and yes, I realize the Sabbath and Sunday aren’t the same. The point is, we take one day a week from our normal schedule and business of work to rest, renew our minds, and worship God.)

I, early on in my writing, and with my dad’s leading, made up my mind that I’d not write on Sundays. I’d rest. I’d relax. And I’d pick up my work the next day.

We need to have time to rest. To recuperate. We can’t be working nonstop all the time or we wear ourselves out. God doesn’t do things for no reason, and resting one day in every seven is no exception.

Though I do ‘lose’ a day of writing each week, I have found resting on Sunday has benefited me and my life.

For starters, I have a solid cutoff. I aim to get everything for the week done by Saturday night because I won’t be working the next day.

Monday is a new week, which I enter fresh from a day of being able to ignore my plot holes or staring blankly at the screen. The day of clearing my mind lets me start the week with fresh energy, not to mention I get some extra sleep and file away more reading than normal.

Now, I’m not perfect. There has been a day or two I finished a scene really quick. Or a piece sprang into my head that I needed to write down. If I am stuck on a plot hole, the story runs through my head as I try to find some solution before I have to sit back down and write again the next day. But, as a general rule, I lay my writing to the side one day a week.

Choosing not to write on Sundays is a personal conviction for me. I don’t think it is a sin to write on Sunday, and I think there are those who can handle it without letting writing take over their life. But, as for me, I believe it is a Biblically promoted idea to rest one day a week. Not only does it open up time for us to worship God and reflect on matters we ignore in the hurry of life, but it gives us new strength and refreshes our mind to plunge back into the work of our story the next day.

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15 Comments

Good insights! For me, writing is more of a stress-relieving process and less of a vocation, so I actually make a point of writing on Sundays for the very same reasons that you don’t. But I do much the same thing with other responsibilities; for example, absolutely no coursework on Sunday. Everyone needs margin in his/her life, right? Thank you for sharing.

Because we spend up to seven hours at church each Sunday, and when we get home we have animal chores to do, supper to eat, grandparents to talk to, and baths to take, writing on Sundays is simply not practical for me. Sometimes I get in a few words, such as when something funny happened at church that made me think “that has to go in a story”, and so I write it down. But the main reason I don’t write on Sundays is that it’s a very plain reminder that there’s something that always comes above writing, which helps keep priorities straight.

Wow, Hope. Seriously, just last night I was realizing that I really don’t ever rest from writing. I realized how exhausted I’ve made myself. This is a very timely post! Thanks for the encouragement…and permission to take a break every now and again. 🙂

As for me, writing IS my relaxer and often times on Sundays is the time when (since I’m taking a break) I actually CAN get in a good hour/two hours of writing. I do admire your conviction to take a break! 😀

I often take the whole weekend off writing. Saturday for resting and Bible study and church. And then Sunday is for cleaning the house and either building, garden or maintenance work. Sometimes I get to write on a Sunday evening, sometimes not.

I don’t write/edit/revise enough each day to make it exhaust me (I have so many other things I do other than write. I’m still in school and my mom only allows me 2 hours on the computer anyway – writing with pen and pencil doesn’t really work for me, though I should try to more often – and some of my computer time must be used for blogging, managing social media, responding to emails, etc.), so I don’t bother to take a break once a week. But that’s cool that you do that! I suppose if I were to become a full-time writer, I’d do the same. 🙂

Very well written! To have such strong convictions yourself and yet to give others grace, noting that what may be necassary in your Christian walk may not be what the Master requires of other Christian authors takes a special person indeed. 🙂

Thanks. 🙂 Yes, I have two categories of convictions. One category is things I will not back down on, such as Salvation, Jesus being God, the inspiration of Scripture, and Creation. But a larger category is personal convictions that, while I have reasons for doing or not doing them myself, are not salvation issues and aren’t always sin issues either, but are a matter of personal conviction, such as drinking or working on Sundays.

A lot of Christians like to turn the second category into the first one, and it is rare to find articulate people who are comfortable leaving the second as the second. If we deny ourselves something, we like to make sure everyone else has to as well. 🙂

There are enough serious conflicts to take part in. No need to waste energy or ruin friendships on differences of opinion or minor matters of personal conviction (minor, of course, in relation to the grand scheme of things; not that they aren’t important in their own right.) 😀

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